Indeed! This is a major reason why I never got into iPhones. Too freaking pricy (at least for my tastes). All of the iPhones that are discounted enough are 3 to 4 generations old, so they'd take some performance hits.* However Apple stuff has come down in pricing, so that's been nice for people who are more price conscious. Like the iPhone SE starting at $400, and the 9th gen iPad at $330 (which you can get now at $300, which I also snagged around that price earlier on). Another thing that helps is I've upped my budget for cell phones in recent years. $300 used to be my limit (I was buying $100 to $200 phones just a mere 3 years ago), but have since upped it to $500. That's how I got my Pixel 6!
I was tempted to get the P6pro at $650 (after $250 off), but figured..
1) It may be too big (TBH, the P6a probably would've been a better fit, but I figured let's spoil ourselves more this time around)
2) The outward curving screens still weird me out
3) Let's stick with our budget
* that said, I did entertain getting a used iPhone 6 or Iph6+ as an iPod Touch substitute when the IpT6, and later I would learn the IpT7 would still have the same, dinky, 4" screen. I never seriously got around to it. This day in age, 9th gen iPad vs. IpT7, both for the same price? Former is a much better value. I no longer put a premium on being able to game on the go (not with such a small screen at any rate)